During a standing-room-only meeting Wednesday night that lasted until nearly midnight, Santa Fe city councilors unanimously approved a $30 million takeover plan by Baltimore-based Laureate Education and the city of Santa Fe.

Advertisement

Under the deal, the city will borrow the money to buy the school property from the New Mexico Finance Authority. Laureate will then lease the property from the city and run the college.

Santa Fe mayor David Coss said Laureate will pay the city about $3.2 million a year, with an option to buy the campus. The lease between the city and Laureate is for 27 years.

The school will likely enroll only about 50 to 100 students this fall because most who were enrolled at CSF left when it closed in June.

Laureate officials said they hope to expand enrollment to 4,000 over the next few years.

College faculty member Patricia Sauthoff is happy to have her job back.

"I'm really excited," she said. "I have a lot of books in my car I need to read, but I'm really excited to start working on the syllabus, lesson plans, lectures, and all of that."

Gov. Bill Richardson, who attended the meeting, also expressed his support for the arrangement.

"I applaud the Santa Fe City Council and Mayor David Coss for taking bold action tonight to save the College of Santa Fe and I commend their thoughtful and careful deliberation of the issues," said Richardson in a statement released Wednesday. "I will continue to work closely with the city and our other partners, Laureate Education and the Santa Fe Community College, to ensure that we have a first-rate institution that continues to attract students from all over the world, creates educational opportunities for the youth of New Mexico, and spurs economic growth in Santa Fe and for the state."